Reunited

A while ago.

Like maybe in High School?

So it's been like ten years or so.

My Daddoo gave me a ring of his that my great grandmother had given to him when he was younger...like preteen I think?? Not sure.

In any case. It was a simple silver ring with some thunderbird type designs on either side of a turquoise stone.

And during college...and maybe in highschool for a bit.

I started wearing that ring constantly. 

Like if I were to wear a ring it would be that one.

And by the time I graduated college and started my job.

I wore the thing all the time.

Rarely would I switch it out for any other rings.

And for most of the day I wouldn't take it off. 

It had become kinda like one of my 'comfort' items if you will. Part of the 'armor' or my 'uniform' for the day.

Where it would get to the point where I would feel well 'naked' if I didn't have that ring on when I was in public.

And then the fire happened.

A year ago. On the 2nd of June.

We had a fire start on the hill behind our home and without my quick actions to call 911, may have ended up with a severely damaged house. 

In the end we ended up just loosing our fence and having a couple of  burn spots on our back porch.

But for a week or two or longer afterwards.

Our house totally smelt like smoke. 

I mean the fire had gotten within six feet of the house.

And the doors/windows/ac had been left on/open in our haste to evacuate the house.

So the place stunk of smoke pretty badly. 

And it was somewhere in this timeframe.

Of us cleaning up the house and having people come help us and such....

That I misplaced this ring.

I remembered taking it off....

And then...

When I wanted to put it back on.

I couldn't find it. 

I'd searched everywhere I could think of that I could have had it.

Upstairs, Downstairs, My room, the Bathroom.

Like I looked in all the likely locations of where I could have set my ring down.

Nothing.

It was gone.

I couldn't find it anywhere.

And had to resign myself to finding a replacement ring to wear in the meantime.

And over the past year I did find a couple that I didn't mind wearing.

But every now and then....I still found myself reflecting on where the ring could have possibly gone.

Cut to today.

Just over a year later.

And I'm suffering from a bit of a headache because the topic in church had been about finances/insurance and other worrisome stuff that didn't bring the spirit in at all and left me and a lot of other people feeling rather stressed out.

Like. I wanted to relax.

Not worry about money. 

The headache was getting bad enough that I decided I needed to take a shower.

But as I was about to do so, I remembered that my usual massage stone I keep in there to help work out the tense muscles in my neck...had been left in my bedroom. 

So I went in there to find it.

Couldn't find it.

Decided that I would look under the bed to see if it had rolled under there.

And as I'm lifting up the sheets between the end table and the head of my bed.

I notice something silver gleaming by the wheel of the frame the bed is on.

IT WAS MY RING!!

The ring that's been missing for a year!

I FOUND IT!!!

You don't know how excited I was to reunite with that ring!! :D :D :D

lol though I am still left a bit confused.

Like...how can I go a full year without seeing it there?

Because I'm nearly positive that I looked around there at some point just to check and make sure it hadn't fallen off the side table in the middle of the night.

And didn't see it. 

It could have been that the lighting was different, the angle I was looking at it was different.....

Or maybe some guardian angel decided I needed a bit of a 'pick me up' and planted the ring there where I would be able to find it and have it make my day.

Lol Day definitely made!

Reminds me of how my Mom lost her first wedding ring at some point, and years later after getting a second ring, discovered it in the back corner of the coat closet when they were cleaning it out.

Life works in mysterious ways.

But I am grateful that I've finally found my ring. 

Because ah!

I've missed it. 

Until you next see these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Too Much Treatment

My morning shift at work started out rather stressful today.
Because when I came in and happened to wander by our bettas....
I noticed that a few of them were dead.

And as I got closer I noticed it wasn't just like one or two.
No.

I could see at least a dozen dead fish in their cups.

Which since the weather has been warm enough now we don't have to worry about the bettas getting too cold at night,
And because they were basically all in the same section.

Had to mean that something had gone wrong with the water change that had happened yesterday.

Because multiple bettas don't die in a row otherwise.
Usually it's more spread out and not in just one section.

So that meant that either they'd been changed in water that was too cold or too warm or had too much of a chemical in it.

Judging by the cloudiness of the water.
I had to judge that it was a chemical.
And brining the container closer.
I could tell that it smelt either of pimafix or melafix.
Which are chemicals we use to treat sick fish.
But shouldn't be used when doing water changes.

-Though I had caught wifts of it before, meaning someone was using it....I didn't really bring it up because it didn't appear to be affecting the fish.

Now though?
No. There were a dozen dead bettas.
And at least a dozen more dying so I had to quickly do water changes on them in order to save their lives and dilute whatever chemcial was in their water.

It was stressful.
And not a good way to start out the day.
Even more stressful though is that so far no one has come forward to admit that they were the ones who slipped up and put too much of the chemcial in the betta water.

The coworkers I was able to talk to today all denied that they'd done anything more than add in stress coat to the water.

….
At this point I'm thinking someone isn't being quite truthful.
But at the same time, they all now know not to use anything but the stresscoat in the betta water unless the bettas are sick and need the other treatments.

Still.
Not fun to lose and nearly lose over two dozen fish.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Teeth

It's something I've been secretly stressing about for like over a month now.
Since my last dentist appointment.

But I haven't talked about with anyone because well....people have freaked out when I brought up teeth issues in the past and I didn't want a repeat experience of that stress filled roller coaster.

So I've kept it rather quiet.
Not saying much beyond that I needed to go to the dentist to get a couple of fillings fixed.

As fillings are safe territory.
And true. 
I did have to get a couple of fillings fixed.

But I also....needed to get a crown on one of my teeth.
As a filling there has gotten large enough that the dentist worried it could crack the tooth and cause a need for a root canal or whatever and that a crown would help prevent that from happening. 

Since that's slightly more....well more than getting a filling.
I haven't told anyone about it. 
Because again, I didn't want them freaking out.

Didn't stop me from freaking out because I've never had to get a crown before. 
And when I went into the dentist this morning to get the crown.
They had me sign these forms.
You know the "in case any of these majorly wrong things went wrong you can't sue us you agreed to these risks" sort of forms.

Ah.
ha.
ha.....
ha....

Yah that doesn't stress me out at all.
Nooooooo

So needless to say.
I was pretty tense throughout the entire thing.

Though the procedure itself went well. 
Once the numbing went away my mouth ached like crazy.

>_< which is normal unfortunately. As whatever the dentist does with his numbing needle...always leaves my jaw sore for a couple of days afterwards.
And the dentist had to numb me like seven times because the tooth where he needed to work wouldn't go numb. 
I think my nerves are wired differently as this too is an issue I get...especially when it's always the right side of my jaw that seems to have issues with the numbing. 

And the dentist being "Your tooth is weaker right now so don't chew on chewy things or hard things for two weeks" is also stressful. 
-Because I have to wait for the crown to actually you know...come in...they just did the prework and took molds and whatever. 
So two more weeks on being careful with chewing.

But at least. When all is said and done.
The tooth itself feels fine. 
So I'm not expecting any major issues with the crown...you know besides it not fitting properly so I'm going to be very careful about that. 

But yah.
I'm glad the major stressor of the past month is finally over with. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Not Playing

It's interesting.
Just how much my family has gotten into various versions of DnD games.

Like. Part of me can get the draw of it.
Creating a character, giving them strengths and weaknesses, then setting them loose in a world to go on an adventure. 

It's practically everything I would strive for.
After all, I'm a writer. I love creating stories and characters and plots. 

There's just one....drawback that has me reluctant to join in.

And that's the role playing part of it.

I love writing characters.
I don't like being them.

I prefer to keep myself removed, not personally involved.
And role playing...is a bit more personally involved than I want to be.
Especially when I can't control the plot.
As the DM controls it. The rolls of the dice control it.

Like I can see excitement there. Not knowing if the dice will roll in your favor or not. 

But then there's the group participation too.

I've grown to dislike....collaborations.
Preferring to work on my own. 

So yah. 
DnD?
It's great that the rest of my family enjoys it. That they like the interaction the team work, the unexpected surprises. 

It's just not for me.

And I've stated that multiple times.
Yet, my family still keeps asking me if I want to join. If I could participate.
And like...I don't want to. 
I really don't want to.
It's not something I would have fun with.
And more than likely would stress me out.

And the family is like "You don't have to play but you can come and listen and give your opinions."

…...
But.
I.
Don't.
Want.
To. 

I would rather focus on my own writing, my own stories. 
And I can't do that if I'm expected to listen and pay attention to the plot that's happening and give my opinion I just....

*exhales*
I don't want to.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Leaving?

It's something I've been expecting for a while now.

Ever since Kikay started spending more and more time up north. 

To the point where she's practically never home. 

So it makes sense that she would eventually broach the subject of moving out.

After all if she's never here....why should she be paying rent?

I'd seen the signs coming for a while.

So it wasn't too much of a surprise that she's considering moving out when her contract is up. 

Still sad. 

But not unexpected.

And because I've had time to get used to the idea of her leaving.

It's not as stressful as it could be.

As I really don't like having unexpected changes come my way.

I need time to get used to it. 

If given time. I can accept changes rather easily.

But have them shoved into my face?

It's hard to not freak out. And not want to do the change and you know....get really stressed out. 

*exhales*

But Kikay moving out?

Nah.

I've seen the signs. I've been expecting it.

So when she finally brought up the concept of her moving out. 

Not surprised. 

The more surprising thing though was that we've basically all but confirmed that Kikay is leaving.

Which means that her room will become available.

So we kinda figured that our other roomie would possibly want to move into her room.

As she's mentioned before that her room is darker than she'd expected, so we figured she might like more light and such. Plus she would have her own bathroom if she took Kikay's room.

Only we we brought up the subject.

Roomie also mentioned that she may too be leaving when her contract is up.

Have a change of scenery, get a room with more light but is still in the basement where she could be cooler as she doesn't like the heat either. And the upstairs can get warm. Especially after we lost the trees to the fire last year that blocked the sun. 

It's not for sure that this roomie is leaving....she's still thinking about it.

But at this point I'm thinking it's more likely than not.

So two roomies leaving.

It's going to be weird having new people come in.....

Until you next see these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Excitement

It's always fun when a new episode of the show you love watching comes out.
Because like. There's so much newness.
You can see Character Development. See Plots move forward or find resolutions. See theories get confirmed or denied. Have New theories develop.
Ah.
There's just so much that can happen when a new episode drops.
And it's amazing!

Though it makes it extremely difficult to focus on like anything else
Because I want to focus on the new things!
Especially when something new comes out in one of the fandoms that I like to write for.
Then it's like a dozen new story ideas and trying to figure out how to fit new elements into things I've already thought up and ahhhh.

Yah. I don't sleep much those nights, and its hard to focus on the days at work afterwards lol. 

Still.
It's fun.
Even more fun when you can freak out with friends and family when they're in the same fandom as you. :D 

But ah.
Today was agony.
Because I wanted to spend all day talking about it and no one else had seen the episode I'd seen the night before yet.
And like Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

I got to geek out eventually.
But until that point it was total torture. 
Ahhhhhh

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Out to Eat

We went out to dinner tonight, the roomies and I. 
Mostly because we haven't had a chance to really hang out much over the past little bit just with all that's been going on.
So we decided to adventure out to dinner!
At Sizzler.
Because we all hadn't been there in a while, and I wanted their teriyaki steak. ^^;; lol. 

But it was weird.
For like a Monday night.
I mean, we're in college town. Where most of the people here are in their twenties.
And the Sizzler we went to----was basically filled with grandmas and grandpas.
O.o

So weird.
Like. I know the older folk live among us.
But it felt very weird to be like the only 'youngins' in the restaurant.
*shakes head*

It's probably because we chose the Sizzler that was a little out of the way of the main hubbub of college come and goes.
But still.
Crazy.

I wonder if that particular Sizzler is known for serving older generations....
Or if we just happened to go on a night where they were there....

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Me Time

It's interesting how things just....work out. 
Like I get a short shift at work on a day I end up needing to be off early, whether it's just from a bad migraine, or ending up being able to meet up with friends when I otherwise couldn't have. 

Well.
Earlier this week, I decided that I needed more of a mental health day.
A day to be away from people and just be home alone with minimal interaction from people besides my roomies while they were home. 

I chose to do that today,
and let my family know that I wouldn't be joining them today for dinner earlier in the week. 

Little did I know.

That last night I would end up feeling....well awful.
A major migraine hit me which kept me up most of the night. 
And left me exhausted and really unable to stand up for long.

So I spent the day mostly resting in bed with a heat pack, conserving energy. 

Which I hadn't planned for the migraine.
But I had planned for a day off away from people. 

So thankfully I could rest and relax and not worry about cancelling any plans.
Because I had none besides staying home.

Yay for the inspiration to take time off for me. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Off Off Off

I came into work today to discover that the fish system was off.

Which isn't a good thing to come into.

Because unless the manager had a reason to turn the system off in the thirty minutes to an hour before I came in...it would mean that our fish wall had been without running water all night long.

Not always an issue. It's happened before. The water being off. 

But the way the fishtanks were looking?

The water had been off a lot longer than overnight.

A lot of the tanks were cloudy looking and some of them stank. 

I hadn't seen the tanks look like that before, which was a cause for concern.

And then I went into the back.

And discovered that the fish system had been set to 'feedhold'

But the light indicating the feedhold wasn't blinking.

Meaning that unless someone physically went into the back to manually turn the fish system back on....the fish system wouldn't turn back on otherwise.

Because if the light was blinking it would mean it was on a timer and would turn the system back on within a certain time frame. 

Which meant that my coworkers had turned the system off at some point to feed the fish.....

And never turned it back on. 

So I went to the manager and asked them if they knew when my coworkers had fed the fish.

I got the response that the fish truck had come in late, not until 2pm and that the manager had left soon after, so they weren't sure when the fish were fed.

Usually on fish day we don't feed the fish until after all the new fish have been placed into their tanks. -That way we would only have to feed once. 

But with the fish coming in late...it's possible that the fish were fed before the shipment arrived.

Which would explain why some tanks were murkier than others.

Because if the fish system had been off when the fish arrived.

Then the water in the bags that the fish were in wouldn't have been filtered out.

And if the bags had dead fish in them -as some fish do die on the journey to our store--then that water wouldn't be filtered out either.

In either case.

The system had been off since whenever my coworkers had decided to feed the fish.

Whether it was after the fish shipment showed up -around 3-4pm possibly-

Or earlier in the morning like around 11am when the fish are usually fed....

It still meant that the fish system had been off for a long long time. 

And it boggles my mind that in that entire day....no one thought to turn the system back on. 

I can partially get it because the midday coworker is brand new, so they may not know the proper way to turn the system off and on for feeding. 

But still.

The closing coworker, the closing manager, someone should have noticed....that the fish system wasn't on and gone to turn it on.

Nope. *exhales*

Until you next see these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Unclean Surfaces

I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, but my roommate has weird concepts of cleanliness.

So. The dishwasher had been run right? All dirty dishes within were clean.
But we needed to put more dirty dishes into the dishwasher which meant putting the clean ones away.

I took it upon myself to do that. Because I know this roomie doesn't like dirtiness and dirty dishes in the sink are like the bane of her existence along with crumbs on the countertops.
So I did my part and put away the dishes that were clean and then pulled most of the dirty dishes that had been in the sink into the dishwasher to be cleaned.

Only I didn't know where a couple of things went.
Like some sort of circular fruit slicer thing.
So I placed it on the countertop above the dishwasher.

A countertop, mind you, that's right next to the sink and also has a drying rack on it where we place dishes that can't be put in the dishwasher after we've cleaned them.

Basically that counterspace stays pretty clean.
There's no reason to place food over there as that's usually where the clean dishes get set, and like the cup I'm using for the day to drink liquid out of.

But from a glance you wouldn't think it wasn't clean.
Sure. There were some water droplets near the sink as I'd been moving dishes from sink to dishwasher.
But where I'd placed this circular cutter thing....there hadn't been anything.

And like I put it there, forgot about it. Went to sit down.
And like two minutes later maybe? Roomie comes up and is like "!!!! Why did you put that on the dirty counter! We need to wash it again!" 

.
..
...
….
…..
….
...
..
.

Excuse me....what?
'Dirty' counter?
HOW is it DIRTY?
I Don't Get It.

Like I said earlier.
That particular part of counter space sees no food action.
The only action it gets is when dishes are placed on the drying rack there, or I leave a cup there so I know where to find it when I need more liquid.

And yet that counter is 'dirty' for my roommate.
HOW.

Did you cut raw meat there when I wasn't looking? Did you slice veggies? Did you sprinkle spices over it?
Like ….it looked like an everyday regular counter,
Which mind you I had wiped down for extra measure on Sunday because I knew this roomie was returning from an extended trip.
I made sure every single surface of that counter was clean.

And now its DIRTY.

*exhales*
I thought spending time in a foreign country where cleanliness standards are not the same at all would have calmed said roomie down from their cleanliness paranoia....

Looks like that was a no in that regards.

*shakes head*

Honestly.
Dirty?
The dish sat on the counter for two minutes.
Wasn't used.
Wasn't even in the water droplets
Just sitting there on the counter where only clean dishes get put.
And it's dirty and the roomie had to wash it all over again

*exhales*

I don't get it.
I don't get it at all.

But it does frustrate me.
Like. Oh hey look. I cleaned out the dishwasher and put away those dishes and then put the dirty dishes in the sink into the dishwasher and you don't say anything about that.
No.
it's the single dish on the 'dirty' countertop that you focus on.

*exhales*

I don't get it.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Crazy At Work

It was one of those moments where opening at work had been going so well....
Only to spiral out of control when I got slammed with a lunch time rush of people.
At a time when I was the only one in petcare.
And everyone needed my help.
It felt like every five minutes I was being asked for help in different areas of the department.

All basically triggered when I had a noisy family come into the store.
They first wanted to get a bird--but all the kids and everyone were sooo....*shudders*
Their energy just had that crazy energy vibe to them.
A vibe that just was nails on a chalkboard to me. 
Which made me only want to get through helping them as quickly as possible because it was difficult to make myself heard when you had children being noisy all over and the parents being distracted with said kids and phone calls and every other thing. 

I figured I'd be done with them when I finished with the birds.
But no, they needed help finding the bird food, and then one of the kids wanted a leopard gecko. 
But I had been in the middle of helping another customer when that decision was made, so it took me a bit to get back to them and before I managed to get back to them another kid was coming down the aisle with a small fish tank and maybe a betta fish? I have no idea.
As I was still dealing with another customer wanting reptiles as well and answering questions for people at fish and grabbing mealworms for yet another customer.

It felt like I couldn't walk two steps without getting stopped by a customer or called by a coworker to go help elsewhere in my department.

It was like that for basically the entire last 2 hours of my shift.

So I was a bit frazzled by the end of that shift.
And basically fled the store to get away from all the people before I would get trapped again with another person in need.

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

New Fish

Ended up adopting a new betta today.
As my coworker asked me if I would be able to take him in.

Why?
Because the betta had been suffering from a bloat issue for a while and wasn't getting better despite all the treatments my coworker did.

So, my coworker asked if I had space to take him in.

I did, having lost a betta in one of my tanks earlier in the month and hadn't yet replaced it. 

Therefore I took the betta in. A pretty goldishgrey one and placed him in the tank.

He's definitely suffering from bloat.
But hopefully I can get him to recover.
We'll see. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Come With Me

It seemed like a simple thing.
Where I was looking at Pokémon Go and noticed that there was an Ivysaur at the nearby park.
Nearby being like a two minute walk maybe?
So easy peasy to go and get.

But I figured I would check in with Kikay and see if she wanted to come with me.
I mean we all already have Ivysaurs and such, but at the same time you hardly ever see them in this evolved state and I was in the mood for a small adventure. 

Peering into Kikay's room it appeared that she was busy and so I wasn't surprised when she declined to go with me. 

However I'd barely reached the front door when she was like "Wait I'm coming!"

It was like whiplash really the sudden change in plan as it had only been like 10 seconds since she declined.

But her reason for going was that she'd gotten the strong impression that she needed to come with me.

Which...odd.
Again like the park was maybe 2 minutes away and the sun hadn't yet set.
So there was light and such.
Plus like...who would be out by the park?
I hadn't expected any trouble.

However.

As us roomies (as we ended up having a roommate walk over to the park lol) were heading over.

These two guys happened to be coming from the opposite direction.

Which was an interesting coincidence.
Because like. What are the odds that someone would be walking towards the same park that we were at the same time I meant to go walking?

I mean the guys totally ignored us (like guys tend to do) 

But it did get the gears in my head turning.
Like was this why Kikay felt the need to join me?
Because I would have been by myself at the park at the same time those guys walked by.
Could something have happened to me if I had been by myself?

It's hard to know for sure.

I mean people were out and about.
And the guys didn't even stop at the park, they kept walking up the street.

But still I wonder....if we just avoided something....

I'll probably never know.
But at least we're all home safe and with our pokemon lol. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Connections

I met up with a couple of old coworkers today after I got off of work.
You know, to catch up, shoot the breeze, have food.
As I haven't seen them in a couple of years and wanted to know what was going on in their lives.

And it came up that one of my coworkers transferred to a sister store in a different state and that they miss all the crazy customers that we get here in Happy Valley as apparently they only encounter the 'weird/crazy' customers like once a week.
While it can be basically an everyday sort of thing for me here.

Lol but apparently, I'm quite well known there---at least my store is via my Facebook posts.
As my coworker and I are friends there and they'll pull up my profile just to go 'lets see what crazy has happened in Happy Valley shall we?" and will read off my posts to their coworkers there.

I found it rather amusing.
Like. Wow these complete strangers to me are hearing about crazy customers I have to deal with in a totally different state.

I mean...like I know that that happens anyways since I blog about the experiences as well.
And these blogs get read all over the world.
But it's just weird to think that somewhere in a different state, fellow coworkers know my struggles with customers. lol. So weird. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Shaped Food

This year for Father's Day, my Daddoo wanted to have a theme to our get together.

The theme for this year?

Dinos.

The food "meat-eater" or "plant-eater" foods.

Which...basically I took to mean bring whatever you want.

Except I was like. We should have something dinosaur shaped!

And what came to mind?

Chicken Nuggets.

As I recalled at some point that chicken nuggets came in a variety of shapes.
So even though there was a plan to have steak for dinner.
I went on the hunt to also see if I could find dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets to bring to dinner as kinda a 'gag' food of sorts.

Like "haha look they're dinosaur shaped aren't I funny?" ;) lol

Turns out I did good bringing those dinosaur chicken nuggets.
As not only did the family get a kick out of the fact that they were dinosaur shaped.

But one of the kids wasn't feeling like eating steak today and there had been a concern that he wouldn't have much to eat.

And then the kid saw the chicken nuggets.
XD lol and basically took the entire plate of them.

So woot on me for saving the day! :D 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Overboard

I've decided my roommate has gone crazy.
At least crazy in the OCD fashion of cleanliness crazy.
Because the list of 'summer cleaning' chores she has is like 30 pages long.
THIRTY PAGES.

It goes so in depth in things that we need to clean (as she's the homeowner as well) before the end of the summer. You know the 'spring cleaning' sort of thing....but like times 10. 

Like it's a more indepth cleaning than even my first apartment complex had us do, and they were quite crazy there as well with their tasks.

And a lot of it make sense.
Like dust the baseboards.
Wash the doors.
Dust the furniture.
Clean the bathroom.

All typical things.

But it's when you get into the odd stuff like: 
Sterilize the garbage cans.
Switch the direction the fan spins.
Flip the mattress.

Where I'm like. O.o seriously?

Like I get that it's good to have a good old fashion spring cleaning.
Get to the nooks and crannies we don't usually get to.

But there has to be a line between 'spring cleaning'
And crazy over the top who even cares if the picture frames are dusted or not? sort of cleanliness where I start wondering what my roomie was thinking when the list was created.

Because it's crazy.
I've only done like two rooms so far for 'my part' and I still don't understand.
*exhales*

I hope it never gets this intense again because geez.

I purposely moved out of student apartments to avoid having to do this deep sort of cleaning. That's why I'm in a house
Where we don't have to worry about cleaning checks and the like. *shakes head* 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Messy Messy Messy

I met up with a friend for breakfast this morning.

Which ended up being a slightly mini adventure.

Because her little one was rather energetic for that early hour lol. 

And it wasn't easy to keep him entertained for long.

At least, entertained in ways that didn't a) cause a big mess or b) break things.

Thankfully we didn't break things.

Well...a Crayon.

But overall the little on didn't break things.

However the mess?

Yah.

Little one was quite into pushing things off the table like a cat.

Crackers, pieces of food. It was the newest game really to watch the things fall down below--only to get fussy because they couldn't then reach said food on the ground. *shakes head*

Overall though. It wasn't too much of a hardship to talk over breakfast.

Until little one threw the sippy cup right at our cups and knocked my friend's drink right over, spilling liquid everywhere.

Thankfully it was a larger table and the spill moved away from us instead of at us.

So a few napkins later we were able to clean up the mess well enough.

But yah.

It's quite the adventure eating with little ones about lol.

Still had fun though.

I'm glad we were able to get together for a little bit. :D

Until you next see these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Called

We got another prank caller at work today.
From the sounds of it it was a young girl.
Which makes sense since I believe most if not all of the schools are now out for the summer. 
So I would expect more kids would get up to mischief.
Mischief that includes prank calling the pet store apparently. 

The girl on the other end of the line asked me if what her Mommy said was true.
If we had real unicorns. 

*rolls eyes*
"Yes." Was my response. "We have real stuffed unicorns. They're on aisle six." 

"Okay thanks! Bye." 

*shakes head*

I thought that that might be the end of it. 

Nope.

She called again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.

I think a good dozen times within twenty minutes. 

Like seriously kid.
Why?
Why?

Thankfully they were simple questions easily answered. 

Still annoying. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Boy or Girl?

I had one of those...circular conversations at work with a customer.
One where I wasn't sure if there was a language barrier, a comprehension issue, or that the dude was just trolling me. 

But we had a customer come into the store looking for a betta fish. 
Why?
Because his current betta fish was 'lonely'

...umm.....I told him that was a bad idea.

But he was insistent.
And not listening to me. 

So I made sure he had a large enough tank. Which he 'said' he did.
And I recommended that since he had a male, to get a female.

So he was like "Where are the bettas?" 

I'd gestured to like the entire endcap full of betta fish. 

And pointed to the row that had females.
Said that the others were male. 

And...the dude was like.
"So I need a girl?"
"Yes."
"Which ones are girls?"
"These ones." Points to the row of females. "Are all girls." Points to the rest of the bettas "All these are males."
"So these are girls?" points to one girl betta.
"Yes."
"And the boys?"
"Are the rest of them."
"So this one is a girl." Points to male.
"No that's a boy."

And like in the middle of this circular conversation where I kept saying which fish were girls and which were boys and hating the fact that apparently not one word I was saying was making it into the man's skull.
As he would ask me the exact same question half a second after I answered it. 

This guy came up to us. the dude's friend apparently. And just stood there smiling and not being helpful either. *rolls eyes* 

After like three more rounds of the same boy/girl questions for the fish, I excused myself and fled.

Because GAH.
There's only so many ways I can say the same thing....

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Water Change

I did a water change on my 125 gallon tank today.
Which is probably something that needed to be done.
Though with such a large tank it tends to be self sustaining so I don't need to change the water out as often as smaller tanks.
Though I guess I do technical water changes every other week or so by filling the tank back up when the water evaporates and gets too noisy for me. 

In any case.
I did about a 50% water change today.

Mostly because I've been on vacation for the past couple of weeks....
And lost like three of my larger fish.
And possibly a few smaller ones as well. Not positive.

But it's the larger fish that had me concerned. 2 good sized black moors and one medium sized anglefish that all appeared healthy when I left...and now have completely vanished from the tank?

Like they're gone gone.
No sign whatsoever of them and my roomie didn't notice. 

So to kinda 'clear the air' but in this case water.
I decided to do a water change just to get some fresher water into the tank.

Since I haven't done a deep one since....last fall? Before the winter hit? It's been a long while. 

Hopefully it helps the tank.

And with the loss of three of my larger fish...
I'm thinking I'm going to try and get more smaller ones into my tank....

Guess it's time to switch things up. :D

Think I'll stick with fish for now.
But I am thinking redecorating my tank is another possibility though I'm holding off for now. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Return to Work

Returning to work after a long vacation is....always interesting.
Because it feels like most the time I come back to policy changes, new coworkers, a mountain of dishes, animals needing to see the Vet, and of course, something broken.

This time around wasn't much different.
A coworker hadn't properly disengaged our cleaning solution from the sink--which the faucet leaks, which means that when I came in the hose used to fill the sink with the cleaning chemical was slowly drippling out water....and over the course of a night. A lot of water had dribbled out, creating a medium sized puddle --about eight-ten feet long. (Medium sized because I've seen much larger) 
Only I couldn't reach said flooding to clean it up.
Because, as you guessed it, and I figured would happen. There were a mountain of dishes and cages that needed to be cleaned and hadn't been. Some of those cages still sitting in the exact spots where I placed them before I went on my double vacation. *exhales* 

Also as expected, there were slight changes as well in policies. Though nothing really that effected me. The store has some new stickers up, and a new program to help us better gauge our customer satisfaction levels? Or how well the store is doing in making a profit? I have no idea. It's a manager program therefore I don't have to deal with it. *shakes head*

New coworkers? Check. I have four. One of them a manager. Two that I had briefly met in my small 'return to work' days between the double vacations I took. Plus a new bather for the grooming department.
The interesting thing? All four have their names start with either C or K. O.o 
So weird. lol.

But yah, returning from a long vacation.
I encountered most of the usual "we were drowning the entire time you were gone." sort of scenarios that I've grown to expect.

However.
One larger difference.
Is that apparently one of my coworkers has been driving everyone else insane. Becoming quite beastly in some ways. Bossy in others. And needy. Very needy in needing to gain manager approval for every little thing...which results in them calling the manager over every five minutes.
*exhales*
There's more to it apparently. That the gossipvine states that this coworker is the reason why some of our recent quitters have quit. That this coworker drove them to quit and has influenced others to reduce their hours and switch up their schedules in an effort to avoid them.

:S :S :S
It's quite the little drama going on in my department.

Which is kinda interesting.
Because I don't often see the drama.
I hear about it a lot.
But when I'm working with the various coworkers....they tend to be fine around me. *shakes head*

Still. I can see where they're coming from in some instances.
And now, the 'fixer' in me is trying to figure out ways to smooth things over and help the department run better.

The main issue is that....the drama often happens with the closing crew....so I don't get a chance to see it, nor do I hear much about it until after things are said and done. 
*exhales*

I do hope that with my return, the one coworker will calm down and pull back in their 'rampage' through the store.
We'll see though. You never know how things will change after a long absence.
And for this particular coworker it has been a long absence. A full two weeks because our schedules never meshed in the three days I had back at work between the vacas.

*exhales*
Yep.
Work is going to be interesting for the next couple of days for sure. 
Guess we'll see how it all goes. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Story Told

So this trip we did something that we haven't done in a long long long while.
Like I don't think we've done it since Jr. High or even Elementary days.

As usually we deal with silence or music of different family members playlists. 

But this trip.
Kikay put on a book on tape for us to listen to while we drove.
Mostly because the windy mountain roads we travailed make it difficult for her to do anything else do to motion sickness. 
So we listened to a book that she'd started and figured we'd all like to listen to.

It was actually pretty fun --though at times I do wish that I could have focused on other things.
But we couldn't connect her phone to the car to play the book through the speakers, so she had to use the speakers on her phone at full volume so everyone could hear.

Therefore, it was rather too loud to be able to concentrate on anything else.

I have to say.
It was a different way to roadtrip for sure. lol. 
And the story was good, one that I had read back in Jr. High or High School. 
So long enough that I knew the story, but didn't have a firm grip on the plot or anything.

The side effect though.
Is listening to that voice all day....has left it echoing in my head long after we managed to finish the story. *shakes head* oops lol.

Still it was something different. :D

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Warm Adventure

We went on a mini adventure today.
My Aunt, Sister and I.

It started out as a simple enough quest.
A journey to grab a present that my Aunt had ordered for me, but hadn't arrived before I arrived. 
And since they live out in the middle of nowhere, they actually have to go get their mail.
So off we piled into the car to go seek my present. 
While we left the guys to do whatever they wanted to do.

But along the way we spotted a huge garage sale taking place in the little town near where they live. 
It seemed like something fun to check out.
But we were on a mission.
So we ventured forth to go find my present.
Which we did! Woot! :D

And then on the way back.
We noted that the garage sale was still happening.
-Though honestly it looked more like a mini farmers market. 

And paused to look through all the random live plants, clothes, food and odds and ends that were still there. 
-As people were slowly packing up their wares and heading home.

And there.
On the last table.

I spotted them.

Heat packs!!!

I'm obsessed with them.
And had actually been considering buying more. 

And there they were.
Nice large heatpacks selling for like a fourth of the price that you could get them online. :D

^^;; I ended up with two. Different sizes.
but ah.
I love them. 
Love them so much.

I'm grateful we decided to go on an adventure today so we could get those. :D 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Arrival

There's this anticipation that builds when you go to visit a place you love to visit.
The approaching landmarks that are so familiar.
Little houses or stores that stand out from previous journeys. 
Little memories of the last time you were there.

It's like a storm approaching it builds.
This anticipation.
Until see the familiar house.
Pull up the longed for driveway.
And dive out of the car into the arms of the person you were looking forward to seeing all week. 

Ah. So happy we were able to visit family this trip. 
So happy. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Butterflies

The butterflies were out today.
Which was weird, considering that we'd only seen a couple or so the last few times we'd gone walking along the river trail.
But today. 
They seemed to be out in force. 
And evenly spaced out as well.
Defending their territories and such.
The nice thing was that they would land nearby us.
So that we could admire their wings.

Lol and me being the picture taker.
I wanted to try and get a good picture of these butterflies.

To say it's difficult is....pretty accurate.
The creatures here are all so skittish, fleeing much quicker than other creatures do around my home town. 
Still. We managed to capture a couple of photos.
Managed to move in such a way to draw close to them without startling them into flight for a couple of them.

Plus it was fun to watch them flit around.
Kinda intimidating when they would fly right at us though.
Lol I kept expecting one of them to collide with us.
But nope.
They never did.
They'd get close enough for us to flinch away...and easily avoid us as they flitted circles around us.

It was kind of a fun experience really.
I'm glad we were able to see it. 

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Remembering

It's interesting what sort of details just stick in the mind.
Like things that you only paid maybe a split second of attention to them.
But then when someone needs to know the answer.
You're able to recall that little detail to help others find what they're looking for.

It happened when we first arrived at the condo we're staying at.

Since it was a new place that we'd never stayed at before, I ended up exploring pretty much immediately upon getting in the door and putting my stuff down.

Which included also going through the drawers in the kitchen. 
Just to see what we had.
You know, see what we had available in case we needed to adjust any of our cooking plans. 

But mostly it was a quick look.
The glasses are there, silverware is here, and pots are there sort of lookabout.

Only.
A few hours later, when we were making one of our dinners.
Daddoo asked where the canopener was.
And I was able to direct him to the right drawer without having to get up and search for it.
As I'd remembered seeing it in my quick lookabout.

It happened a couple other times, after we'd bought more food to spend the week here, that my family would ask where certain items were and I could easily tell them.

^^;; It's just kinda cool really. 
Being able to do that.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Open?

The doors to the cupboards in the kitchens in this place are weird.
They don't open right.
Like.
They open backwards than you think they should.

Because usually the door opens from the...inside edge. 

So if you're on the left side of the kitchen, you'd pull on the right side of the door to open it.
And if you're on the right side of the kitchen, you'd pull on the left side of the door to open that one. 

So the doors open...on the 'inside' of the kitchen, If that makes sense.

In any case.

The kitchen in this place we're staying at?
Doesn't do that.

No. The doors open the opposite than I think they should.
So I go to grab to the right, and it won't budge.
But grab from the left. And there we go.
But it should have opened from the right.

It would have made more sense....

*shakes head*

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi